The Compost Co.

Bringing the compost to compostables

Join The Compost Co. team or donate today!

The Compost Co. is managed by the Waiheke Resource Trust, and funded by Auckland Waste Minimisation and Innovation Fund.

The Compost Co. is a local initiative led and guided by WRT. The project works in two main areas. Firstly, it works with four vineyards on the island, providing meetings and workshops to encourage and support vineyards to compost onsite. Secondly, the project is reaching out to local businesses to collect and process their commercial organic waste/food scraps using hot compost.

The project began in February 2018, and so far four vineyards and ten Oneroa businesses are involved in the project, which currently diverts around 200kg a week of food scraps and other compostable materials.

The Compost Co is very pleased to welcome our new sponsor Aqua Water Waiheke.

If you are a business on Waiheke that is currently not composting food scraps or has compostables that are going to land fill, please get in touch at carys@wrt.org.nz to find out how to get involved with The Compost Co.

Why is composting so important?

Commercial organic waste currently contributes a lot of compostable materials to landfill, with nearly 50% of Waiheke compostable waste is sent to landfill. Once it is been buried it doesn’t compost down, instead it rots down anaerobically. This causes problems such as the release of methane gas, and the filtration of liquid from the food scraps, through the landfill, which has to then be collected and treated onsite to prevent contaminated leachate reaching and polluting our waterways. However, these issues can easily be reduced by making use all food scraps and other organic material through composting.

Composting is easy! It takes very little time to compost your food scraps.

Composting is cheap. Apart from the initial investment in a composting bin, there are virtually no additional costs to composting.

Compost is a great way of adding nutrients to your soil. It can help produce higher yields of fruit, vegetables, and flowers, it can loosen clay soils, help sandy soils retain water, and it can suppress plant diseases and pests. It is capable of all this without containing petroleum-based compounds that most commercial fertilisers do.

Composting does not produce nasty smells or attract pests. Only composting that is done incorrectly produces a nasty smell or attracts mice and other pests. To avoid these problems simply keep dairy products and meats out of your compost pile. These can be put into a Bokashi bin instead!

Composting puts biomass back into the soil rather than taking it away. Soils are vital in carbon sequestration and water retention, with approximately 20% of global carbon being stored in soil.

Composting reduces the methane gas emissions from compostables in landfill. Methane is 23 times more damaging in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, so reducing food scraps in landfill can help reduce the greenhouse effect and climate change.

The work of The Compost Co. is currently diverting roughly 200 kg of food scraps and other compostable materials, a week!

How The Compost Co. works:

Once a week there is a collection of the 90 litre airtight sealed bins from the businesses involved

All the compostable products are taken onsite to Goldie Estate Vineyard, our partner providing the land

Everything gets shredded and mixed with different carbon sources and food scraps

Once a week the compost must be turned

In order for a hot compost to work, the temperature needs to be at least 55°C, and above 65°C to break down PLA – both of these are being achieved by The Compost Co.

The Compost Co. welcomes volunteers to get involved with our weekly composting sessions. Volunteers can get involved by helping to sort and chop compostable material, mixing the organic materials with carbon, turning the compost, and by cleaning and maintaining the site.